U-Passes are unlikely to be on the horizon for Northwestern students, who will soon have to pay 75 cents more for each El trip.
In recent years, the Associated Student Government has looked into obtaining the pre-paid, unlimited Chicago Transit Authority cards, said Samir Pendse, Associated Student Government’s speaker of the senate. Pendse said the U-Passes would mean an additional fee built into each student’s tuition.
In an ASG survey three years ago, about 70 percent of students said they would accept the fee in exchange for the passes, the Weinberg senior said. But for the amount of times students said they use CTA trains and buses, it would not have made economic sense to make the other 30 percent pay. Even if the unlimited rides encouraged students to ride the CTA more, Pendse said the cost would still not make sense.
“In order to break even, every single undergraduate would have to take the El once a week, including reading week and finals week,” Pendse said. “What we found was that students would not use it nearly to the extent to be effective.”
Within NU, the School of Law, Medill School of Journalism, School of Physical Therapy and Graduate School provide U-Passes to students who go into Chicago for class.
Pendse said these schools were able to negotiate with the CTA as independent institutions, and therefore were exempt from its all-or-nothing policy for universities.
University Spokesman Al Cubbage said students would have to decide if the extra cost is worth it.
“The question comes to, do undergraduate students want to pay an additional $200 a year to have a U-Pass?” Cubbage said.
Communication sophomore Meggie Gallina said she would go into the city more if she had unlimited rides.
“It might just be a mind-set change, but I wouldn’t feel as bad about paying for the train,” she told the Daily two weeks ago.
Gallina said she goes into Chicago about once a month to sightsee and visit family. She also said she uses the CTA to get to Union Station to take the train home for school breaks.
“Every other school in Chicago has them,” Gallina said.
Students at Loyola University in Rogers Park have U-Passes. They said the cost added to their tuition is going to increase from about $80 to $102 due to the fare hikes, which will go into effect January 1. The cost of each El trip will increase to $3.00 from $2.25.
Mike Calderon, Loyola ‘12, said the higher cost did not bother him very much, since he doesn’t have to think about it each time he takes the train.
Calderon said he uses CTA about four times a week.
“It helps a lot,” Calderon said. “We go down to Lakeshore Theater a lot and I go down to Grant Park every Sunday to do parkour.”
Several Loyola students said they would not travel in Chicago as frequently without U-Passes.
Loyola students also said they use public transportation to get to jobs that are farther away from campus.
“I work at Jewel,” said Laura Grenlin, Loyola ‘12. “It’s not far away, off of Berwyn. I’m a little lazy, but I have a U-Pass.”
